The Real Deal
by martha smith
Summary: January 2009. The world as we know it. After the Christmas holidays, playgrounds everywhere are filled with talk of the Cyber King. Everything as it should be. Except it isn't. When the real world and Doctor Who start to collide, which is the real deal?


**AN: This has been floating around in my head for a while. It was originally posted (by me) as the start to a role play on a website, but then it never took off. And ever since I've been tempted to play with it....**

**Disclaimer:I don't own it. Full stop.**

_duh-duh-duh __**DUH**__, duh-duh-duh __**DUH**__, duh-duh-duh __**DUH**__..._  
"Will you STOP that!!! Driving me insane!" Hannah glared at Laura, rolling her eyes theatrically.

"Sorry, Hannah...it's just, y'know...with nothing on TV - i mean, even Heroes has disappeared for another month! - I've got nothing else to _do_..." Laura glanced around furtively. "And did you SEE that bit with the Cyber King in London...I mean, that was the-"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa...stop right there," Ella butted in.  
"But the Doc-"  
"Shut it" advised Catherine  
"And the other-"  
"LAURA!" yelled the entire group. Laura slumped. what was the point? Doctor Who - in all its formats and spin-offs - was a taboo. She'd have to make up for it on the walk home with Hannah. At least _she_ was just as obsessed...or slightly less...or a lot less. At least she enjoyed talking about it.

On Saturday, Laura ran out of drama class to go home at will the clock onwards to 7 o'clock, like she did every Saturday. Except that...oh, damn it. She'd forgotten it was gone AGAIN. Grumpy, she mooched around the High Street, passing a blue police box and going to the library. Maybe they'd have a Doctor Who DVD. Wait. what?  
Laura turned round. The pavement was deserted (except for the other people, obviously, but that wasn't what she meant. Cursing her obsessiveness, she went inside.

_-x-_

Kelly shuffled the books around on the shelf for the ten hundredth time that day. Well, ok, maybe not quite _that_ many times, but it certainly felt like it.

The small second hand bookshop where she worked had been painfully quiet so far today. She sighed and looked up at the clock again.

She felt herself slipping into yet another daydream packed with excitement, adventure and really wild things. Usually her daydreams ended up pretty much the same - with her being rescued by some handsome, charming and clever hero.

She looked around the shop. When she had bought over this business last year she'd had high hopes for it. In her mind it was just the beginning of a hugely successful chain, she would have turned her somewhat flagging fortunes around, would eat in the best restaurants, drive a fancy car and have a lovely house....

Well, you never knew what was around the corner. It was all still possible....

_-x-_

Laura was depressed. The livrary STILL hadn't updated their DVD collection...they had 5 Doctor Who DVDs and that was it. She'd seen them all, and read all their novels. Anyway, she'd been planning to read or watch some Classic stuff...in the long long wasteland that was the next year...urgh, now she was depressed again. Then it hit her: if anyone stocked old videos or books, it would be the secondhand bookshop ! Also, she was running out of books to read. She probably had enough money on her for at least one paperback...

Barely two minutes later, she was pulling open Novel Distraction's door, sending a bell jangling. She marched up to the counter and blurted out,  
"Excuse me, do you have any Doctor Who books or videos?"

Kelly jumped out of her daydream as the little brass bell above the door intruded on her thoughts.

_"Excuse me, do you have any Doctor Who books or videos?"_

Kelly glanced at the girl standing anxiously at the small counter.

"Uhh... not sure... I have some Dickens though... read any Dickens? The Signalman is very good, very scary or how about some Agatha Christie? Got plenty of those. 'Death in the Clouds - that's very good..."

What was the world coming to? 'Doctor Who' books? Wasn't that a TV show or something?

Laura slumped slightly, then had a thought. Unsurprisingly, it was a Doctor Who thought.

"Christie? Ooh, I've been meaning to read one of them for ages...is there one with a giant wasp in?

Kelly looked confused.  
"Well, yes. 'Death in the Clouds'."

"Oooh, how much?"

After paying for the book, Laura had to run home. It was nearly time for dinner. And as she dragged her feet up the High Street, she could have sworn she felt the Earth turning beneath her, a heartbeat not her own thundering in her ears, and the sound of rapidly disappearing engines.


End file.
